The present invention relates to a shielded electrical connector for terminating an end of a shielded cable and more particularly to a shielded electrical connector having an insulating cover on the shielding member of the connector.
A shielded cable is composed of electrical conductors for transmitting signals which includes a shielding material, such as a metal mesh and the like, to prevent the intrusion of external signals An electrical connector for terminating such a shielded cable includes a metal shielding member which covers the termination between the electrical conductors and each electrical contact to prevent the external signals from affecting the signals being transmitted along the conductors and such terminations. In this connector, however, a problem may arise in that, if the metal shielding member is left exposed, static electric charges transmitted by the hands of a person to the shielding member during connection of the connector to a matchable connector may infiltrate into the system with which the cable is connected thereby causing an undesirable influence on the system. In order to use a shielded connector as mentioned above, the shielding member is covered with an insulating material in the form of an insulating cover which is secured on the shielding member by means of bolts which also secure the connector onto a mating electrical connector.
The use of such bolts, however, has disadvantages in that the bolting and unbolting of the connector is not expedient and a large space is required for the bolts thereby resulting in a large size connector. To overcome these disadvantages, the shielding member or the insulating cover may be provided with latching members that latchably engage the mating connector thereby firmly latching the connector on the mating connector. However, it is difficult to form the latching members as part of the metal shielding member. On the other hand, although the integral formation of latching members on the insulating cover is possible, the latching engagement of the latching members with the mating connector is rather weak on account of the lack of rigidity of the rubber or plastic material used for the insulating cover.